Folding portable sawhorse



F. K. SOLOMON FOLDING PORTABLE SAWHORSE Dec. 2 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29, 1968 Fus. 5

' INVENTOR. FRANus- K. Sm-oMou & Y m M O H. A v B Us. or. 182-153 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE United States Patent'fO A folding sawhorse having a divided upper suppo'rt surface, whose halves are hinged to each other and 'fixedly secured to supporting legs. The supporting legs are connected to each otherby a, folding bracket which maintains'them in predetermined space relationship when the sawhorse is being used. Adjustable leg extensions are provided for elevating the height of the support surface of the sawhorse. Adjustable clamping blocks may be .'pro- .videdon the support surface to clampingly secure a workpiece in the sawhorse. g

, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION, The invention relatesto a foldingportable"sawhorse of the type upon which carpentry work can be performed 3 or which can be utilized impairs toprovid'e spaced'support members for work surfaces, tabletops or the like. Sawhorses are old and well-known in the art, but are ordinarily of a non-collapsible nature, so' that theyare primarily suitable for professional, continuous-use, rather than the occasional use bya home owner who has little available space in which to store the non-collapsible sawhorses when they are not being used.

To overcome this problerfn: the prieriart has provided setsof folding legs between which a piece ofwoodcan be mounted for purposes of assembling a sawhorse for temporary use. Although such component kitsfor assembling .asawhorse are advantageouszinminimizing the storageprobiem when the sawhorse isnot being ,us' ed,

the assembled structure does have the disadvantage of not SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I provide a sawhorse which is unitary in structure, but which is capable of being folded into a compact unit for ease of storage. Thereby, I retain the characteristics of strength and rigidity which are desired in a sawhorse, while at the same time attaining the desired compact storage characteristics. In addition, I also provide for selective height adjustment of the sawhorse so that it can be elevated to table supporting height or lowered to work surface height, as desired. The pivotal folding structure of my sawhorse also permits utilization of auxiliary clamping blocks which utilize the clamping force exerted by the pivotally joined legs to hold a workpiece in place on the sawhorse.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a folding sawhorse embodying the features of my invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the sawhorse shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view, taken as indicated on line 33 of FIG. 1 and showing in phantom outline the position of the parts when the sawhorse has been folded for storage.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, taken as I 3,481,430 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 indicated on line 4-4 of FIGS and showing in phantom outline an elevating position of the height-adjusting means.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top plan View of my folding sawhorse with auxiliary clamping blocks mounted thereon. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken as indicated on line 6--6 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION .OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring. more particularly to FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings, I have shown a longitudinally extending support member 10jwhich is divided into two longitudinally extending halves 11 and 12. The support member may be in the form of a divided pieceof wood of conventional .2 x 4 cross-section. The halves 11 and 12 are pivotally secured to each other by means of spaced leaf hinges 13 which are secured to the underside of the pieces 11 and 12in position to permit the opposed surfaces 14 and 15 to bebrought into parallelism with each other.

' Fixedly secured to the half-pieces 11 and 12, adjacent each end thereof is a supporting leg 16, which is positioned at an angle to the plane of the parallel surfaces 14 and 15 so that the legs at each end of the divided support member 10 diverge downwardly-to ground-engaging position. Each pair of diverging legs 16 should define an included angle of sufiicient magnitude to provide a steady suport for the sawhorse, and this may nominally be; on the order. of 45. for most purposes;'

The rigidity of the connection of each leg 16 to its half-piece 11 or 12 is further reinforced by a brace 17 -Which=is fixedly secured between the underside of a halfpiece 11 or 12 and "an intermediate portion of its adjacent leg 16. Each half-piece 11 or 12 and its pair of braced legs 16, rigidly secured'thereto, move as a unit. The diverging legs 16 at each end of the divided support member 10 are connected to each other by a folding toggle brace or bracket 18, consisting of a notched link" 19 which is pivotally connected to a tongue link 20. The link 20 is provided with atransversely extending projection 21 which is accomodated in a notch 22 providedinthe' link 19, so as to limit opening pivotal move ment Of'ihfi joined links '19 and 20 to a substantially colinea r position which locks the links under load. One end of the toggle brace 18 is pivotally connected to one of the legs 16, as at 23, and the other end of the brace 18 is pivotally connected to the other leg of the diverging pair, as at 24.

When the toggle bracket 18 is in its fully extended locked position, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, each pair of end legs 16 is rigidly maintained in predetermined space relationship for operative use of the sawhorse. However, as shown in phantom outline in FIG. 3, when the toggle brace 18 is manually collapsed, the half-pieces 11 and 12 and their attached leg assemblies can be moved pivotally relatively to each other so as to draw the divergent pairs of legs 16 toward each other, while at the same time the opposed surfaces 14 and 15 are rotated away "from each other about the axis defined by the hinges 13. Thus, the volume of space occupied by the sawhorse, when folded for storage, is considerably less than the space occupied by it when the legs 16 are locked in widespread position for operative purposes. In its folded position, the sawhorse can be readily stored in a small ground level area, or it can be hung from a peg or other suitable support from a wall surface. In either case, none of the parts of the sawhorse are disconnected or disassembled from each other in its folded or storage position, so that the unit is at all times ready for immediate operative use.

When the sawhorse is utilized for supporting a piece of wood which is to be sawed, planed or otherwise worked upon while being supported, it is generally desirable that the height of the support member 10 be about 24" above ground level. On the other hand, when a pair of such sawhorses is used as support for a work surface or a dining surface, a height of 24" may be inconvenient and uncomfortable, so that a height of at least 30" for the sawhorses is desirable. Due to these varied uses to which sawhorses may be put and the varying height requirements that such uses may require, I have provided means for adjustably elevating the height of the sawhorse, as best shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

Each of the legs 16 has slidably mounted thereon a leg extender 25 which, in the form shown, is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 26 traversed by longitudinally spaced bolts 27 projecting from the leg 16. Overlying wing nuts 27 threadedly engage the bolts 27 and serve to frictionally secure the leg extender to the leg 16 in any selected position of extension within the range of its height adjusting movement. If the minimum heights of the sawhorse is 24" when the leg extenders 25 are not in ground engaging position, and the maximum height-elevating adjustment of the extenders 25 is 12", it will be apparent that the height of the sawhorse is adjustable anywhere within the range of 24" to 36", depending upon the purpose for which the sawhorse is to be utilized.

Inasmuch as the height of each leg 16 is independently adjustable, the leg extenders 25 can be manipulated and set to obtain a longitudinal canting of the sawhorse or a transverse canting of the sawhorse, if such a position is desired for making certain angular saw cuts or for other purposes.

Referring to FIGS. and 6 of the drawings, I have shown a pair of opposed clamping blocks 28 mounted on the upper surface of the half-pieces 11 and 12 respectively, with the opposed surfaces 29 and 30 of the clamping blocks 28 being maintained in selected spaced parallel relationship for clamping engagement with a workpiece W, shown in phantom outline in FIG. 6.

Each of the clamping blocks 28 is provided with a pair of longitudinally spaced, transversely extending slots 31 which are traversed by bolts 32 which overlie the slots 31 and are threadedly connected to the underlying halfpiece Her 12. When the bolts are loosened, each block be clamped there between. When the end pairs of legs 16 are in a closed position such as shown in phantom outline in FIG. 3 or in a position intermediate that of the fully closed position and the fully divergent position shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, a workpiece can be held in place between the opposed clamping blocks 28 and when the legs 16 are then more widely positioned, the workpiece is firmly clamped between the clamping surfaces 29 and in response to the high clamping leverage exerted by the legs 16 on the support pieces 11 and 12 through the fulcrum provided by the axis of the hinges 13.

It is to be understood that the forms of my invention, herewith shown and described, are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a folding sawhorse, the combination of longitudinally-extending support members, hinge means pivotally securing said support members to each other, a ground-engageable leg fixed adjacent each end of each support member to provide a pair of legs at the like ends of said support members, said legs of said pair being divergent with each other toward ground-engaging position, a toggle brace pivotally secured between each pair of legs to releasably maintain said legs in predetermined divergent relationship, opposed surfaces movably 30 -rnounted on said support members for adjustable clamp- 28 is slidable relatively to its underlying support piece so that a preselected spacing between the opposed surfaces 29 and 30 of the blocks 28 can be established for the thickness of the particular workpiece W which is to 1 ing engagement with a workpiece, each of said legs being angularly disposed relatively to the plane of the opposed surface of its associated support member, and said opposed surfaces being rotatably into parallelism to define a workpiece clamping area in response to spreading of said legs intosaid predetermined divergent relationship.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,819,252 8/1931 Linsner 182153 2,478,828 8/ 1949 Larson 144-307 2,729,516 1/1956 Colvin 182-l 84 2,825,606 3/1958 Rebensdorf 182153 3,045,777 7/1962 Dintelmann 182153 REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 182186 

